Emotional eating is a practice that leads an individual to excessive consumption as a way to find comfort during stressful or depressive periods of their life. Some might consider it a habit of eating to relieve themselves from negative emotions. Still, frequently, especially when it becomes frequent, it can result in serious weight gain to obesity.
Any factors that can trigger stress, such as problems in work, family, friends, and relationships, can cause someone to resort to emotional eating. According to studies, however, women are most prone to this eating practice.
The psychology behind this practice revolves around the fact that eating food makes someone feel that all his or her empty feelings are “filled” temporarily, although this one is a false notion.
Several factors explain why individuals resort to eating when they experience stress or other emotional periods. Below are the following:
- Doesn’t engage in activities that could be a means to reduce stress and loneliness.
- The cortisol levels in one’s body that also change when stress happens that triggers sudden cravings
- Failure to recognized the difference between normal hunger and emotional hunger
- Unable to find friends or companions that serve as the support system when stress kicks in
- Inferior to at times negative perception of one’s self that when occurs periodically can lead to a cycle of binge eating